blog

04. 10. 2018

“Customer first” has reached the back office

Back office is becoming the new front office with 74% of bank executives now saying that improving the customer experience is their top strategic priority, Accenture found in its survey. And it is becoming important to change the legacy banking culture of processing transactions to a culture of developing emotional connections, a pioneer of emotional banking says.

Back office, it’s time to meet the customers

Changing the role of the back office and having a game plan is essential to successfully adapting to the changing digital economy, a new Accenture survey of 80 North American bank executives has found.

Survey results highlighted four key themes, which are expected to change the game for bank operations: “customer First” has reached the back office, bank operations become the intelligence engine, tapping trapped value elevates customer experience and the legacy environment is holding back change, according to the survey report.

What fintech means to banks: just a faster horse?

Many of the fintech start-ups have ended up partnering with banks, because they are trying to make the existing business more efficient and effective, or in other words, they want to make a faster horse, according to Chris Skinner.

But he believes the fintech revolution will come from those markets that are not looking at bank products and not trying to think how they could make them faster or cheaper. They are not thinking of a faster horse, but how to apply technology to build a new business, he wrote in his blog.

Big banks are winning the millennial lending war

Millennials are passing up smaller institutions in favor of the largest institutions, according to Cornerstone Advisors. These larger players are adapting more quickly to millennials’ needs and expectations, rolling out innovative solutions that are more appealing.

And smaller financial institutions have not been as successful as the largest institutions in cross-selling lending products. While 42% of millennials have opened a credit card with their megabank, only 4% of millennials have opened a credit card with their community bank, the report said.

Emotional banking: tech giants have a head start?

As technology continues to impact all components of financial services, the importance of enhancing the human aspect of a an organization’s brand has never been more important, according to Duena Blomstrom, an independent digital and customer experience consultant.

In a recent interview about her concept of emotional banking, she said both fintechs and tech giants already have the foundation for personalized and contextual engagement, providing an immense head start compared to a bank which has neither the technology nor the mentality to think in terms of creating an emotional bond with every interaction.